Perfect cast and a good story

One of my all time favorites.

Absolutely the worst movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It is very hard to tell what "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is all about with only one explanation. It is a film of differences and controversies. It is a story of two opposite characters sharing the same prison cell during the military regime in Brazil. One of them is Luis, (William Hurt) a transgender woman, jailed for having sex with an underage boy. The other one is Valentin (Raul Julia), jailed for his activities on behalf of a revolutionary group. Their unlikely friendship is defined through the realities of Valentin and the fantasy world that is created by Luis using the scenes and plots from a Nazi Propaganda film. Luis is telling the story of the film to escape the reality and creates an alternative world both for Valentin and himself. Kiss of the Spider Woman is a controversial film with detailed conversations that are the strongest points of the film. Its beauty is hidden in the depths and intensities of the characters, their sentences and conversations. In almost every scene there is a clash of thoughts and controversies, but even so, both Valentin and Luis manage to form a highly unusual friendship. Luis is telling the story of a film about Nazis, but, in my opinion, that film is the combination of everything he has seen and his inner thoughts. It is amazing how this same film is perceived from totally opposite angles. Luis enjoys the love and passion of the main character, where Valentin hates the story because Nazis are against his own beliefs. Characters, also in the made-up film, are different than each other by all means. This is very important for the message of the film. Because after all, the inner thoughts of these men are not that different even though their lives are. Kiss of the Spider Woman is a film within a film. This is the most common expression used for defining this film. Because when there is a real story going on, in the same time Luis is also telling a different story. In my opinion that story carries the real message of the film; because, as I have mentioned above, it is the inner thoughts of Luis and how he pictures fantasy. That fantasy is his own reality. This is visualized in the best possible way. In some scenes we get to see Valentin yelling at Luis and calling him names. This is reality. He really does that, but on the other hand, in one scene when guard gives him two plates with food, he sees that one plate has more food than the other and insists Luis to take it. With a simple gesture like this, we get to see the transformation of Valentin against his own reality.Those two characters end the film in a very different place than they have started. There is not even one sentence or one conversation that is there just to fill in an empty spot. In every word, every sentence and gesture there is a deep character analysis of the director Hector Babenco. This highly characterized conversations got him a nomination for Best Director Award. In a character oriented film like this, it would be such a shame for William Hurt not to get the Best Actor in a Leading Role Award. For the year 1985, I can say that he is playing a highly unusual character with a complicated life and soul. You feel these complications from the beginning until the very end of the film. Other than the films that are told by Luis, Kiss of the Spider Woman takes place mostly in a prison cell except for the last 15 minutes. So, imagine how conversations are fulling their missions and keep audience within the range of interest. When Luis is telling the story of the film, audience get to listen and wonder what will happen next. Even in this point, Kiss of the Spider Woman is unique. During the film, he keeps telling different stories of different films. Actually, Kiss of the Spider Woman gets its name from one of those stories. That woman turns out to be the lover of Valentin who has nothing to do with his reality and belief. Valentin portrays her as rich and beautiful. His whispering her name in his sleep is a splendid example of what Valentin actually wants and what he actually does. His complicated inner self is explained also in the scene where he refuses to eat avocado for self-discipline. In this point of view the director shows us that, basically, both of the characters are actually the mirror of each other. It is such an extraordinary talent to be able to share the message of being actually the very same person by using only controversial points and oppositions of the characters. Luis is the inner self of Valentin, whereas Valentin is the reality of Luis.Kiss of the Spider Woman is an amazing film from the points I have tried to explain above. We are trying very hard to be the person we are not, and we are the person that we want to be, mostly in our thoughts, a reality that is reflected very well in the film. This highly characterized film is nominated for Best Picture as well as Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. The message of the film is like a universal truth. The unlikely friendship of the characters is the essential for making this film truly amazing.

The first time I'd heard of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" was seeing the movie poster in a book of '80s ads. I kinda liked the image with its art deco styling, but the movie was pretty far removed from that print advertising. The movie's really about the unlikely relationship that develops between two prisoners. This is a story that unfolds in a squalid prison cell, so the movie rests on the performances of William Hurt and Raul Julia. And both are indeed exceptional; Julia the solid ground to Hurt's high camp. It's surprising how apolitical this manages to be while still dealing in politics, torture and homosexuality (which, even more surprising, is sensitively handled for the most part).7/10

A homosexual and a political prisoner bond in a South American prisoner. Hurt is flamboyant as the homosexual, a role that won him an Oscar. While it is an interesting performance, it also comes across as somewhat showy and insincere. Julia is equally good as his cell mate, a gruff fellow who develops a fondness for Hurt. Unfortunately, the talents of the two stars are wasted in a dreary drama that seems to have no narrative flow. Hurt narrates to Julia the plot of a B-movie, and too much time is devoted to boring, melodramatic scenes of this fictitious film within film. Braga is given three roles, but none of them is the least bit interesting.

It was a rare window of opportunity for me at the time, to catch a few glimpses of the brutal reality - what would happen to an outsider - whether a homosexual or a political prisoner - in another country like Brazil.The Spiderwoman trapped in a web at the opening has haunted me even decades after watching the film. What was she doing there? Why did she stay on the web perhaps of her own making? Why did she not break free? Was she stuck forever? Was she actually safer in her own prison than the world outside?The film certainly showed us a side of South America to us in Hong Kong at the time, a time when most people were fretting over the 1997 handover, whether to break away to another country, which country.Every country, every place has a story of its own to tell.